Provence: Olive and Rosemary Fougasse

I found out how to make bread rise! This may not sound like much, but this has been a major issue for me recently – there just isn’t anywhere warm enough in my house! However, thanks to a tip-off, I found that by turning my oven to Gas mark 4 for 5 minutes and then turning off, enough heat is generated to all my bread to rise! Result!

This recipe is another from the cookbook of Le Cordon Bleu, and is for a delicious, flat loaf flavoured with rosemary. (The original recipe calls for thyme, but I had fresh rosemary in the garden and just couldn’t resist! The fougasse is a form of flat bread baked in a wood-fired oven, and was used to check the temperature of the oven was correct. Fougasse is from Provence, and often includes other ingredients such as cheese, olives and anchovies. The Italian foccacia is from the same family of breads, and is made in a similar way.

This bread is simple to make, and great for summer picnics and outdoor meals as it has quite a dense texture which doesn’t crumb easily. Just be warned – it is very moreish, and won’t last long!

Olive and Rosemary Fougasse

Ingredients:

300ml warm water

15g yeast

500g strong plain flour

5g salt

30 ml olive oil

60g olives, stoned and sliced

60 ml olive oil

1 tbsp Salt

2 sprigs fresh rosemary, chopped

Instructions:

Make your starter dough, by dissolving the yeast in the water, before adding 120g of strong plain flour. Mix briefly before covering and leaving in a warm place until doubled in size.

Place the remaining flour in a bowl and make a well in the centre. Add the salt, 50ml of water, olive oil and the olives before mixing in the starter dough. Start to knead the mixture until all the flour is incorporated, before shaping into a ball and scoring with a large cross. Again, cover and leave in a warm place until i has risen to double its original size.

Preheat the ovento 445°F/230°C/Gas Mark 8 and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Roll the risen dough out to about 4cm thick and place on this sheet. Cut slits in the dough, pulling slightly to create a gap in the dough. Brush the dough with olive oil and sprinkle over the salt and rosemary. Bake about 35 minutes until golden brown (cover with foil if it starts to burn)